So I actually got it two months ago (at a steep discount from my LBS since it's a few years old), and have been tinkering with it since to get it dialed in. And... it's almost there!

I have named this bike Giles Cory after the man in the Salem witch trials who refused to enter a plea of innocent or guilty. To force him to enter a plea, they put him in a pit and placed heavy stones on his chest, and rather than plead, he would simply reply "MORE WEIGHT!" as more stones were placed on him, eventually crushing him to death. Felt appropriate for a Clyde bike =)

So far...
-Swapped the POS saddle it comes with for... dun dun dunnnn... the B33! The tractor of Brooks seats! It looks slightly silly, but it rides like a *dream*; it's all the suspension i'll ever need. The only annoying thing is you *have* to use a pipe-post seatpost, the triple-rail design means you can't use seat sandwiches to put it on a modern seatpost. Still.. soooo comfy. When the current black cork handlebar tape gets janky, i'm going to replace it with tape that matches the saddle.
- I've put a different (larger angle, and longer) stem on it. Yeah, it should be silver; i'll probably use the stem swap at the LBS to get a silver one sooner or later
- Swapped the POS pedals that came with it for MKS Lambda pedals and some tiny spacers. Love these pedals!
- Threw a Topeak mtx rack on the back; have one of the MTX 'lock-in' bags for it, and also got a pair of Arkel Shopper panniers that I am a huge fan of and use way more than the MTX lock-in bag these days.
- Planet bike "Cascadia" fenders. Yeah, they fit like crap at the moment; i'm putting 2" Marathon tires on it in a month or two and will fit the fenders better at that point. Very tempted to pinstripe them in the Truckacino color of the frame.

So my other bike that i've been riding is a Redline Monocog 29er MTB. Which I still like, and it's fun to take on trails. But even with a slight cog-swap that thing pedals out at around 11-12mph. Rediscovering gears has been fun; this thing is so much faster and hills are so much easier.

chrism32205

11-05-12 07:55 PM

nice ride :thumb:

bigwies

11-05-12 09:11 PM

Very nice ride. I love my LHT too. I agree with swapping out the saddle. The stock saddle was really uncomfortable for me too. I went with the Brooks B17 and am loving it. I love those pedals too and have them on my LHT too. Have fun and ride that puppy. Enjoy.

Mi11er

11-05-12 09:52 PM

Looks great! Love your motto too

indyfabz

11-06-12 08:18 AM

Nice.

What model year is it? I had an '08 that was stolen. The saddle was horrible. The '11 model had a better WTB saddle. Still not great, but better.

FYI...Don't feel bad about having to replace the seat post. The stock post is suspect. The teeth wore down on the one on my '08 model so the saddle would not stay level. Had to replace it. When I got my '11 model, I immediately replaced its post.

The black stem looks fine.

Do you have a reverse rear derailleur? My '08 did. I liked it. My '11 didn't and I had to get used to the switch.

Are you going to tour on it? I (and a lot of other LHT owners) believe it rides better fully loaded.

AbundantChoice

11-06-12 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by indyfabz
(Post 14919305)

What model year is it? I had an '08 that was stolen. The saddle was horrible. The '11 model had a better WTB saddle. Still not great, but better.

Do you have a reverse rear derailleur? My '08 did. I liked it. My '11 didn't and I had to get used to the switch.

Are you going to tour on it? I (and a lot of other LHT owners) believe it rides better fully loaded.

The store sold it as an '10, but I'm pretty sure Truckacino was an '09 color (although I saw somewhere they they used that color into early '10 as well). So it's either an '09 or early '10, one or the other. It's actually been in the store since then, apparently people kept trying it and the Crosscheck and just kept going with the Crosscheck.

The rear derailleur is top-normal (Deore XT). As my prior bike was SS, then the bike before that was a 3-speed internal hub, I was basically re-learning shifting all over again. The last geared bike I used before this was probably my old Schwinn 10-speed back in high school 20 years ago!

I probably won't engage in too extensive touring on it, although i'd like to build up to a century ride one of these days. I do appreciate the loaded riding capacity of it as I do my grocery shopping on it now and I tend to fill both Arkel Shoppers pretty high. I'm also enough of a load myself that I appreciate the longer wheelbase and lower bottom bracket, etc. I did test-ride the Crosscheck and the Trek 7.4 before going with the LHT; the Crosscheck was a bit more responsive but also felt a bit squirrelier, and I just didn't like the Trek. I also dug the 26" LHT as it does allow for some cushy wide tires. It won't blink when I throw the 2" Marathons on there, even with fenders.

indyfabz

11-06-12 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbundantChoice
(Post 14919674)

It won't blink when I throw the 2" Marathons on there, even with fenders.

As the decal reads, "Fatties Fit Fine."

chefisaac

11-06-12 02:55 PM

nice bike! Love the look of it.

Jaye

11-06-12 06:01 PM

Nice! I really like the Truckacino color. Mine is also an 09 (I think anyway, it was second hand) but in the Olive Green color and I am in love with it. The only thing I haven't done with it yet is take it on a tour ironically. But group rides, commutes, grocery store, all that is flawless.